. .

**OFFICE OF**  **THE ATTORNEY**  **GENERAL OF**  **TEXAS AUSTIN** 

Honorable Joe Reeder, Jr. County Attorney Knoz county 

### Benjamin,Texas

DearSir: OpinionNo.0-;rOy

Re: 18property owned

### andused sxoluelvely**by** 

### LeroyTeegueP

Weare In receipt of your letter whloh you request the opinion of th questlon. Upon our request ror add unthat the local post was not in that It had beengranted a char which you enclosed. You furthe

~~,Sek.,tl~'29i Art. YIXI 0r .our State Constitution allows the 'LegisIytulv, bygeneral lawa, to exempt rrom taxation “lnstltutlons of puirely ptiblic charity". The Legislature 

### lnaccordancewith this sectlon\ga6sed article 7150 V.A.C.S., and wequote the pertinent parts of sucil statute:

"The following property shall be exempt from taxation, to wit:Honoreble Joe Reeder, Jr. -Page 2

“Seotlon 

### 7. IZlbllo charities.--All buildings belongl.lg to institutions of purely public oharlty, together with the lende belonging to and oooupled by such institutions not leased or otherwire used with aview to profit, unless auoh rents end profita and all money8 and credits are appropriated by such institutions solely to austaln suoh lnatItutlons and ror the benefit of the slok end dleabled members and their famllles end the burial of the seme, or for the’malntenanoe of persons when unable to provide for thamselve e,whether suoh persons are members of such In’stltutlone or not. An.lnstltutlon of purely pub110 charity under this article 1s one whloh dispenses 

### lta aid to Its members and others in slokness or distress, or at death, without regard to poverty or rlohes of .the reoiplent, also when the funds, property and assets of such institutions are pleoed and bound by its laws to relieve, aid and administer 

### inany way to the relief of its members when in want, sickness and distress, and provide homes for its helpleee and dependent members and to educate end maintain the orphans of Its deceased members or other persons. Id.”
The purpose for which the national patriotic society was formed la set out In Title 

### 36U.S.C.A., Section 

### A3:

“43. The purpose of this corporation shall be: Touphold and defand the Constitution of the United States of Amerioa; to promote peace and good will among the peoples of the United States and all the nations of the earth; to preserve the memories and Incidents of the two ‘iiorld Nars iought to uphold democracy; to cement the ties and comradeship born of servlcel and to conseorate the efforts of its members to mutual helpfulness and eervlce to their county. Asamended Oct. 29, 1%2, c. 

### 633,1, 56stat. 1012.” \Iehave been furnished a copy of the national ounstitution and by-laws of the Amerioan La&ion and the 

### 1945-1946oonstltutlon and by-laws of the Jmsrican Legion, Depsrtment of Texas, and rind no language altering in any way the purposes of the American Legion as set out In its national charter. The charter of the local post contains the following lanp,ua&e:Honorable Joe Reeder, Jr. - Yoga 3

“Bythe eooeptance of this Charter, the aald Post aoknowledges lrrevooeble jurlsdlotion end deolares ltaelr to be in all things aubjeot to the Constitution of the Amerloan Legion and of the Department of Texas, and the rulea, regulatlona, orders and lawa promulgated in pursuance thereof; and rurther the said Feat’ pledges Itself throu&h its members, to uphold, protect 

### anddefend the Conatltution of the United States and the principles of true Americanism, for the common welfare of the 11~1~ and In solemn commemoration of those who died that liberty might not pariah nom the Earth.”
In Opinion lrlo. 0-747, dated Juna. 2, 1939, this Department considered the question of liability ror franchise tares of Amerloan Legion Corporetlons to be organized under Texas Lswa, the appllcatlons for ohertere oontalnlq the following “typloal” purpose provisions :

“It shall have all the rights, powers and privilegea, granted to and oonferred upon oorporations byprovision of Subdivision 2,

.“.rtlole 1302, Chapter 1, Title 32, of the Revised Civil Statutes of the State of Taxes, which rends in hsec verba:
lVITlle support of any benevolent, oharltable, educational or missionary undertokiw,* and partlcularly lncludlw, the rollowing:

“‘(a) Topreserve and strengthen oomradeshlp among its members; to perpetuate the memory end history of our dead; to support end maintain education In the moral, intellectual and phyaloal development of those who served in, or whomay serve in, the ;\rmy,Navy, Xarlne Corns 

### orCoaot Guard of tha United States of America, in any foretin war, lnaurreotion or axpedltlon, whloh service shall beaovarned by the Issuance of a campaign badge by the Government of the United States of ,\merica; and to malntuin true allegiance to the Government of the United :,:tetes of America, and fidelity to its Constitution and Lowa; to fostsr true patrlotlam; and to malntol~i and extend the Institution of ;Lmerlcan freedom:Honorable Joe Reader, Jr,. -Page 4

“‘(b) Toact aa acharitable and benevolent organization for the purpose of promoting the welfare, alleviating the suffering, and assisting and aiding thoee whohave served, or may .eerve, with the military foroaa of the United Statee,‘of America In foreign lands, their wldowe, orphana an4 dependents and relations. 111
The writer of the opinion conoluded that Amerloan Legion Corporations were exempt fron payment of the franohlae tax byr’eason of Art. 7094, V.A.C.S. which exempta’ from euch tax oorporations organize4 Y’or strictly educational purposes, or ror purely publla aharlty. *I

It would seem that’ the tirporations organized under the

“typical* purpose oharter proviolons just eet out satisfy all the requirements of such oorporotlona being purely public oharitiea.., Even though the national charter of the Amerloan Legion, read in oonneotion with the oharter of the local post, does not present such aolear-out case, the authorltlea 4laouesed below lead uato ooncluds that the local post la apublic charity, assuming that the local post is conducting its affairs in accordanoe wfth :the charter provfsione.

639, 842, defines a

In the case of Conleg v. Daughters or the Republic, 106 Tex. -_ .. 80, 156 S.b. 197, the court deals wlth acorporation organlzea ror tna declared purpose of perpetuating the 

### memoryand aplrlt of the menwho aohleved Texaa’a independenos, and to encourage historical reaearah into the early history of Texas ,and promote the celebration of

In Powera v. Flret National Bank of Oorslcana, 137 S. iv. (24) affirmed in 138 Tex, ‘604, 161 S. Wol.(24) 273, Judge Alexander publio charity aa followsr
“Apublic charity or trus~t la one for the benefit of the public at large or .aomesubstantial and indefinite portion of it. Charitable purpose8 include (a), the relief’ of poverty; (b) the ,advancement of education; (c) the advancarnent of religion; (4) the promotion of health; (a) governmental or munloipal purposes; and (i) other purposes the aoconpllshment of which la benefloill to the communRestatement of the Lawci Trusts, p. 1140, Sec. :%: 10Amer Jur, 621; 14C.J.S., Charities, p. 439,~ 12;‘Soott On’Truata., 1972; Perry on Trusts dcTrustees, Vol. 2, p. 1184.”Honorable Joe Reedar, Jr. -Page 

### 5

Indapendanoa Dayof the Texas Republic, and ereot monuments upon plaoaa made historic in the war for Texas’s Independence. The oourt held that the society was properly incorporate4 aa an na4uoational undertaking” within the second subdivision ofArtlole 1121, Revised Ststutes’, which wording Is Identical with that of Section 2of Artlcla 1302, Vernon’s Annotated Civil Stotutes.

The Court in the Conlay Case, supra, explains the tarm

“e4uoationala as r0ii0w3:

“The purpose of this corporation Is clearly

‘educational’

. Khatavar educatas is within the meaning of ‘educational un4ertnkin.g’

. Yduoatlon in the sense as used in the statute inoludaa:

‘In its broadest sense,
. . .not merely the instruction raoeivad at school or collage, but the whole course of training, moral, intelleotual and physioal; la not limited to the ordinary inatruction of the child in tha’prsuits of literature. It comprehends aproper attention to the moral and religious sentiments of the child. And it is sometimes used aa avnonymoua with “learning”

.’ 

### 14 cyc. p. 

### 1230. The sentiment of regard For the memory of those whogave their lives for the blessings of this great state stimulates patriotism, and la in the highest sense educational. The facts to be preserved furnish the means of the beat aducation for the VOUMmanand woman of this state. The purpose ii 1a;dable in its influence upon the present panerotion; it is laudable, educational and benevolent for the future citizens.” (amphails auppliad)
Since the purpose olause contained in the national charter of the Amarioan Legion shows vary clearly that the corporation is an
“educational Institution” 

### andthat the oorporatlon is not formed for ., private profit or gain, it musti beheld that the local post ie a public aharlty. If an institution is devoted to publio eduastion without private gain It la an institution of public charity. Southern Methodist University v. Clayton, 142 Tax. 179, 

### 176S.W.(24)749,750; see also Fowsrs v. First National Dank or Corslcana, 138 Tax. 

### 604,161 S.P:. (24) 273, 280, and the opinion of the Court of Civil Appaala in the same case, recorded in 137 Sill. (24) 839: ‘b

Asadditional authority for holding the local post to bea public charity, wacite the case of Dodanheimer v. Confederate Memorial. Honorable Joe Reader, Jr. - Page 6

Supreme to be a for the

. denied, 292U.S. 629, 54 Association, 68Fed. (2d), 507, certiorari

Court, 643, 78LawEd. 1483. The court held the Association publio charity because the court found it was lnoorporated iollowlng pur~osaa :

” to erect and maintain aConfederate hfeaor1ti1’I;lstituta ,and there to col&ect, arrange and preserve statues, portraits, photographs, and hlstorlcal data relating to the Southern Confederacy, calculate4 to enable future historians to obtain suoh reliable facts and data as will asslst them In writing fair, aocurate and lmpartia~ history of,said war and of the South, the said association being eduoational, patriot10 and historical at,all times.” Although wehave decided that the local post is apurely

._ . .__. . . public charity, the use to Whlon tha tmllalng 18put posse amore 

### difficultquestion. Therule la well settled that the use of a building, avan though the lnstltut$on be one of *purely public charl- ” must be for exclusively charitable purposae. ift; ofHouston, 44 S.W. B.P.O.E. Lodge v. (26) 488. Thenquaat&Tn of axclualve use for such purpose la entlraly’ona of fact and you have not stated, and we donot know, the extent of the use ~ofthe two pool tables and two dominotables. Weare inclined to believe that an incidental, occasional or aporadlc uaa of these amusements by the members on meeting nights and similar ocoasions would not take away the ad valoram tax exemption. However, If ‘the building le used as a social club bythe members of the local post, the rule announce4 In the case just cited would apply, and the building and grounds would not be tax exempt. Vetrust the foregoing discussion fully answers the question asked.
Yours Vary truly
AlTORiiZY GENZRiLlL., OF!?XXAS